On To The MIAC Championship Game
MOORHEAD, Minn. (3/01/12)--Concordia scored three unanswered goals in the second and third periods and beat St. Thomas 4-1 in the semifinals of the MIAC playoffs. Sophomore Breann Julius had two goals and added two assists to help the Cobbers advance to the conference title game on Saturday at 2 p.m.
Concordia never trailed in the game as they beat St. Thomas for the third time this season. The Cobbers opened the scoring in the first period and then got the game winner in the final two minutes of the second period. With the win, the Cobbers move to 15-4-5 on the season which ties the program record for wins in a single season. CC has now won 30 games in the past two year – the most in a two-year span in school history.
Abby Taffe started the Cobber scoring train when she notched her 15th goal of the season at 6:15 of the opening period. The goal came against the run of play with St. Thomas holding the edge in puck possession for the opening six minutes of play. Taffe scored on the team's third shot of the game. She poked home a rebound after Julius had taken the initial shot on the play. Tara Korf was also credited with an assist.
Cobber goalie Becca Hendrickson stopped all eight shots she faced in the first period of play. The Tommies finally got a puck past Hendrickson in the sixth minute of play in the second period. Morgan Olson scored at 5:42 to tie the game at 1-1. That would be the only blemish on Hendrickson's stat line for the rest of the game.
Concordia picked up the game winner at the end of the second period on a goal that held the key to the game. The Cobbers scored at 18:56 on the power play in one of only two man-advantage situations in the game. On the other side of the rink, the Cobber penalty kill unit completely shut down the UST power play. St. Thomas was held scoreless in their four power play attempts and was only able to come up with seven shots in the eight minutes on the power play.
Cobber junior defenseman Ali Nelson picked up the game-winning goal. After the puck was fed back to Nelson on the point, she was able to fire a waist-high wrist shot that eluded all the bodies in front of the net and glided past Tommie Alise Riedel who was completely screened on the play. Nelson's goal at 18:56 gave CC a huge boost heading into the third period. Julius and Taffe earned the assists on the play.
St. Thomas (15-9-2) tried to pushed hard to get the equalizer at the start of the third period but couldn't get the puck past the Cobber defense and Hendrickson. Julius finally put the game out of reach with her first goal of the game. She caught up to Taffe in the neutral zone to give CC a 2-on-1 advantage and then slammed home the rebound after Taffe's shot was stopped by Riedel. The goal at 7:49 deflated the momentum the Tommies had put up to start the final frame.
Julius then finished off the score with an empty net goal at the 17:32 mark. St. Thomas called a timeout with over four minutes to play and then pulled Riedel in favor of an extra attacker. Concordia was finally able to get the empty netter when they won possession of the puck in the neutral zone and Julius skated into the Tommie end and slid the puck easily into the unattended goal. It was Julius' 20th goal of the game. She is just the fifth player in school history to reach the 20-goal plateau in a single season.
The Tommies wound up outshooting the Cobbers 29-17 for the game. Hendrickson stopped all but one shot to remain unbeaten on the season. She is now 5-0-2 in her seven starts since the start of February. Riedel made just 13 saves in the final game of the Tommie season.
Concordia will now play in the championship game of the MIAC playoffs for the first time in school history. The Cobbers will square off against regular-season champion Gustavus on Saturday, Mar. 3 at 2 p.m. in St. Peter. CC was 0-1-1 against the Gusties in the regular season, losing 4-1 in the opener and then tying 3-3 in the series finale.